When you’re traveling for extended periods of time, it’s easy to lose track of time. When Kelsey and I arrived in Vietnam last week, we glanced at a calendar and realized how little time we have left in our trip. We started planning our route up to Hanoi – where we have a flight out on August 22 – and decided we’d limit our stops to the 4 H’s: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Hoi An, Hue, and Hanoi. But after only a few days in Ho Chi Minh – a big city that followed dirty, polluted, underdeveloped Cambodia – we immediately detoured to Mui Ne to get some beach time. I’m so glad we did because it was one of our best stops by far.

Last weekend, we took a bus from Saigon with one night booked at Mui Ne Backpackers Village. But from the moment we arrived, it was clear that it’s impossible to stay only one night in Mui Ne. We checked in, hot and sweaty, and the staff walked us to our hostel room – a private room, $10 per night, poolside, surrounded by palm trees and hammocks. We dropped our 15 kilo bags and jumped straight into the pool. We already felt like we were in heaven, and within a couple hours we’d met heaps of people – from England, Ireland, Wales, Denmark, Holland, New Zealand, Canada, Italy, Israel, etc. People traveling for weeks, months, years. People with awesome stories to share. Most had stopped in Mui Ne for a night or two and ended up staying “one more night”… and for most people “one more night” turned into four or five. It really was paradise.

Pool time in Mui Ne

With the exception of taking a half-day trip to the sand dunes, we spent all day, every day in the pool, soaking up the sun, until it was dark and our fingers and toes were shriveled beyond repair. And then our new friends and we would venture down the street for a giant seafood dinner by the beach where we picked out our “dinner” while it was still swimming around in fish tanks in the front of the restaurant. The best part: a feast of clams, mussels, scallops, squid, prawns, and tuna cost about $6 each.

Sand dunes

After four days, we finally booked a bus up to Hoi An. We ended up bringing along our new English friend Dan, and the three of us checked into a triple room in a hostel when we arrived. Hoi An was a cute little town where we spent the days renting bicycles to ride around the old city or down to the beach. And a couple days later, most of our friends from Mui Ne headed up to meet us – everyone traveling at different paces, but in the same direction.

Out on the town with Dan

One night a few of us biked down to the beach to have some drinks and watch the sunset, and I sat there with new friends and realized that the people really make or break a place for me when traveling. My favorite stops in the past couple months have been the ones where really good people surrounded us. It reminded me of a quote from one of my favorite books - Into the Wild - about a guy who leaves everything behind to travel through America and "find himself." He chooses solitude in the wilderness, and although he experiences moments of self-discovery, he ultimately realizes that "happiness [is] only real when shared." The past few months have been amazing. Words can't describe the changes I've seen in myself, emerging myself completely in new places and cultures every day. But the true joy I've felt in this trip has manifested when I've been able to share it with others.